


quite an appetite for a girl

by panthalassas



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Ba Sing Se, Bisexual Suki (Avatar), Episode: s02e15 Tales of Ba Sing Se, F/F, Five Years Later, I love Suki, Lee from the tea shop, POV Jin (Avatar), POV Suki (Avatar), POV Zuko (Avatar), Past Relationship(s), Past Sokka/Suki (Avatar), Suki & Zuko (Avatar) Friendship, The Jasmine Dragon (Avatar), Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck, canon compliant except for the comics which i have not read, i guess i really like writing fic for characters who don't interact in canon huh, i hate epithets this is an epithet free zone, i pinky promise i will finish this, no epithets
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-17
Updated: 2020-07-17
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:42:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25328746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/panthalassas/pseuds/panthalassas
Summary: Five years after Lee and his uncle disappeared, Jin runs into Lee again. He insists he's the Fire Lord, which is slightly less believable than the juggling thing. His guards are pretty gorgeous, though.
Relationships: Iroh & Zuko (Avatar), Jin & Zuko (Avatar), Kyoshi Warriors & Zuko (Avatar), Past Sokka/Suki (Avatar) - Relationship, Suki & Zuko (Avatar), Suki/Jin (Avatar), background Sokka/Zuko (Avatar), past Jin/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 16
Kudos: 160





	quite an appetite for a girl

**Author's Note:**

> The idea for this came to me at midnight while under the influence of two different over the counter sleep aids. Enjoy.

Zuko has worked hard to carve out this sliver of time for himself. Dressed in simple Earth Kingdom robes, he lingers at the tea shop he and Uncle worked at when they first came to Ba Sing Se. The same tattered green cloth hangs from the doorway arch, dirtier than it was when he worked there. The same dim, rocky road, out of reach of the midafternoon sun, frequented by the same desperate, dirty people. Through all the chaos of the past five years, this place has remained untouched.

Here, in the lower ring of the city, he's as invisible as he was when he came in on the train, a refugee among thousands of other refugees. If he's quiet enough, he swears he can still see his sixteen-year-old self standing at the door of the tea shop, waiting for something to happen.

Uncle was right, as he always is - Zuko's gone through a series of metamorphoses since. Sometimes he feels more like an amalgamation of dozens of his past selves than he does one person. But it's for the best. His sixteen-year-old self could never have dreamed of the man he is today. And maybe it's fitting for a changed, scarred king to change a scarred nation.

Zuko sighs. In all his clandestine wanderings of Ba Sing Se, he hasn't been back here since before he freed Appa, and it's unsettling now. Being Fire Lord doesn't leave a lot of time for reflection. Uncle would say it doesn't leave nearly enough.

"Wait - Lee? Is that you?"

Zuko whirls around, sinking into a fighting stance. "Who's there?" He glances around.

A woman emerges from the alley next to the tea shop, hair in two braids, eyes bright. "Lee! It is you!" She grins.

Zuko blinks. "Jin?" He straightens.

"Yeah! Spirits, Lee, I never thought I'd see you again! Where have you been?"

Agni, this is the last thing he expected. Assassins? No problem. Earth Kingdom citizens furious about the war? Not a big deal - he's furious about the war too. A girl who kissed him five years ago? Zuko's frozen to the spot.

"Your hair's so long now!" Jin steps closer to him. Her face is slimmer now, older and harder, but she's still open and joyful. "It's cute!" She reaches out a hand to touch his hair.

Zuko grabs her wrist before he can think. Reflex. His cheeks heat. "Sorry." He lets go and steps back.

Jin snickers. "You haven't changed a bit."

Zuko blushes harder. "Well, actually..." He trails off, and an awkward silence descends. How is it that he can hold his own in a meeting with world leaders now, but still can't talk to Jin?

"I heard your uncle has been back in Ba Sing Se for a while, but his tea shop is up on the upper ring, so I haven't been able to visit." She frowns. "Really, where have you been?" She bites her lip. "I missed you."

What the fuck does he say to that? "Jin, I'm sorry."

"Sorry?"

"I'm not who you think I am."

"It's okay. I know." She brushes her hair back, and he freezes. How could she possibly- "You're not a juggler." Oh. "And you're a firebender." _Oh_.

"How did you..."

"How else could you have lit those lamps? But it's okay. You might be a firebender, but I can see the Fire Nation hurt you too. I don't hold it against you." She pauses. "And it was really sweet of you to light them for me even if it could have meant losing everything." Jin blushes.

"It's moments like those that stop me from being completely ashamed of my past."

"Why would you be ashamed? Sure, you were kind of awkward, but we were sixteen! It was sweet anyway, and a really cute first kiss." Her eyes sparkle, the same way they did when she first asked him out.

"Jin, I'm the Fire Lord." Zuko closes his eyes. He doesn't want to see her face fall. "And my name is Zuko."

"Ha-ha. Very funny, Lee." She punches his shoulder.

Zuko takes a step back, stumbling on a loose cobble. "No, I'm completely serious. I can prove it if you like."

Jin crosses her arms. "Can you?" She winks. "Like you proved you were a juggler?"

Zuko winces. "Yes, I can. Come with me." It's stupid, but he owes something to her, after how he treated her so long ago. She's still living here, in this run-down neighborhood, and her clothes look more tattered than they did five years ago. He can show her something a lot more impressive than the firelight fountain.

"Okay," Jin says, arms still crossed. "We'll see about that."

Zuko nods, and sets off down the street. Despite the five years in the Fire Lord's traditional rooms at the palace, some part of him settles in here, navigates the puddles of muck without looking down, brushes aside hanging laundry without thinking.

Jin jogs to keep up with him. "Hey, slow down, Mister Fire Lord!"

"I don't have much time." But he slows down anyway. "I need to be back to the palace by sundown."

"What, for a meeting with the Earth King?"

"For a meeting with General How, actually." Zuko pauses, ducking under an awning. "And the Earth King." And Aang, if he's lucky. Zuko smiles. Meetings are always better with Aang to grin at him behind the advisors' backs. And the very best with Sokka to crack jokes and clap him on the back and stand up for him, always. Despite the gathering chill, Zuko feels warm and fuzzy inside.

"You're a much better liar than you used to be."

"Thanks, but I'm not lying." It's kind of nice, like it always is, being with someone who's not afraid to laugh with him. Zuko pauses, stopping at a street corner. A man trundles by with a cart of discolored cabbages. "Are you still..." He trails off. Now that he thinks about it, he has no idea whatsoever what Jin did here five years ago.

Jin swings around a lamppost. "I work as a waitress at a noodle place." She shrugs. "It's fine. Pays the bills, most of the time."

Zuko's throat twists. He could set her up for life, and nothing would change for him. It's always heartbreaking to visit Ba Sing Se's lower ring, but it hurts especially to see someone he knows.

"I think I owe you a better date," he's saying, before he can stop himself. With what time? And what's he thinking? He can't court a commoner from the lower ring. His advisors would roast him like a hippo cow and serve him up for dinner. And, besides, he doesn't want to. As sweet as Jin is, and as much as he liked the look on her face when he lit the fountain for her, if he's honest with himself, whenever he thinks about his inevitable engagement, he pictures Sokka's lips on his. Not that anyone else knows that. Especially not his advisors. And extra-especially not Sokka. Agni, he's a fool.

"Really?" The corner of Jin's mouth turns up, and his fate is sealed.

"Yes," Zuko says. So much for a quiet dinner with his uncle and a drama-free trip. "I owe you a better date, and a nicer dinner." Part of the reparations for his old life, he supposes.

"Perfect!" She smirks. "As you said, I have quite an appetite for a girl."

His cheeks heat. Not one of his finest moments. "Tomorrow at sundown?"

Jin nods.

"Follow me, and I'll tell my guards to let you on the train." Before Jin can respond, Zuko sets off again through the city.

"Lee, slow down!"

He does, enough for her to walk even with him.

"Your guards?"

"The Kyoshi Warriors." He smiles. The assassins are slowing down, and he doesn't really need extra guards anymore, but Suki's always nice to see around.

Something flashes across Jin's face. "Maybe you are the Fire Lord."

And they pass the rest of the walk in a heavy silence. Zuko doesn't recognize any of the buildings they pass.

He climbs the steps to the train platform, and Jin follows. The few people waiting at the station cast long shadows in the golden light.

"I've never been out of the Lower Ring," Jin says softly.

Zuko glances back. "Come on, it's almost sundown."

Jin nods, and combs her fingers through her bangs. "Right. Almost sundown." She straightens her dress, brushing dirt off the hem.

Zuko scans the platform. Something gold flashes in a shadowed corner - Nama, with her fan. He waves her over.

She approaches, and bows. "Fire Lord Zuko." She's new. Most of the Kyoshi Warriors don't bother with formalities anymore.

"As you were," he says, and Nama rises.

"I'm sorry," Jin blurts.

Nama pins her to the station wall, a fan at Jin's throat. "Who's she?"

Jin's eyes grow wide. "Please, I'm sorry, I'm sorry I didn't listen."

"Stand aside, Nama. This is Jin, an old friend."

Nama backs off, and Jin bows deeply, her hands shaking. For a second, Zuko sees himself, thirteen, bowing before his father at the Agni Kai, begging for mercy. He shudders.

"Please, Jin, it's okay. I- it makes sense." He holds out his hands.

She straightens, and steps back to study him. After a few long moments, she speaks. "How did the Fire Lord end up working in a tea shop?" A smile creeps back onto her face. There. That's the Jin he knows.

"It's a long story."

"Lord Zuko," Nama says. "It's nearly sundown."

Right. His meeting. Agni, he hopes Sokka, Aang, and Katara could make it.

"So," Jin says. "Tomorrow?"

Zuko nods. "Come to the station." He turns to Nama. "Do you have a ticket for her?"

Nama raises one eyebrow, but hands Jin a train ticket.

"Can you find your way to the Fire Nation embassy?"

Jin nods, tucking the ticket into her dress pocket. She pats it twice. "I think so." She bites her lip, then reaches out and tucks a loose strand of Zuko's hair behind his ear. "I'll see you then!"

Zuko nods, and Jin starts down the steps back to the street.

"What was that, my Lord?" Nama hisses.

Zuko follows her along the station, running a hand through his hair. "I wish I knew."


End file.
